SYRACUSE, NY - The Syracuse school district likely violated laws protecting students' rights to due process in disciplinary actions in recent years, Superintendent Sharon Contreras said today.

Contreras was responding to news that the state Attorney General's Office had subpoenaed the district for documents in an investigation into disparities in student discipline over the past three years.

Contreras called a news conference today following an inquiry from The Post-Standard about the attorney general's investigation. She was asked whether it's likely civil rights violations have taken place in the district.

"It is likely that they have," Contreras said. "But I believe that we are putting remedies in place and that the attorney general will see that we are trying to remedy some of the violations that may have taken place in the past."

The likely violations involve students' due process rights, and the timing of when their parents were notified, Contreras said.

The district received one subpoena from the attorney general's Oct. 16, she said. It sought documents related to student discipline, including demographic data, disciplinary data and specific disciplinary cases, she said.

Any documents with students' names will have all of their identifying information redacted before the district provides them to the attorney general, Contreras said.

The number of documents will likely number in the tens of thousands, she said.

State officials told the district that the investigation was started in response to "numerous" complaints that they'd received and to public documents, "which I assume means news reports," Contreras said.

The attorney general's investigation involves possible violations of the federal civil rights act, the Americans with disabilities act, and a state education law that pertains to student discipline, she said.

The district has been addressing student behavior and suspensions for months, after getting an increase in complaints from teachers that behavior is worsening and that they are not getting the support they need to control it.

At the same time, district officials and some community members were expressing concerns about the large numbers of students -- particularly minority students -- who were being suspended from their schools.

"We want to make sure when there are minor violations that students are able to stay in school," Contreras said. "But for major violations, like violence, students should not be in school. I don't want students exposed to violent behavior. I don't want students exposed to weapons. I don't want teachers harmed or assaulted."

The district hired Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA, over the summer to write a report expanding on his previous findings that Syracuse had unusually high student suspension rates and that suspensions were disproportionately levied on black, Latino and disabled students.

Contreras she was concerned that parents felt the need to take their complaints to the state instead of working with district officials.

"It's very concerning," she said. "But we have been addressing the concerns of parents on both sides, because there are parents who feel that we suspend far too much, and we've been putting programs in place. At the same time, I'm equally concerned about the parents and teachers who feel there are violent students in school."